Hello everyone and welcome back to another chapter of ATOTE! Yes, I know this chapter has been delayed over and over, but there's a reason for that, which I explain below in the AN. Anyway, that's all for me. So let's get on with the chapter!

Important question about future writing style:

After getting some reviews/messages. I wanted to let you all know that I acknowledge that some of you have confusion with when I differentiate thoughts and dialogue. I base my writing off MLA official English grammar rules, which state that thoughts can be italicized or not based on the author's discretion. As I write my books using non-quotes, I thought it'd be appropriate to copy that writing style over here. However, again, some of you have issues with it. Therefore, from now on, I'll italicize the thoughts and see how things go. If you guys like it, then please tell me. Personally, I don't prefer using italics as I feel they're unnecessary, but since it's just FF I thought letting it be up to you would be a good idea. Thanks!

Disclaimer: I don't own -man or BNHA, all rights go to their respective owners.


Chapter Seventeen: Guilt

Allen put on a small grin as he stared at the vibrant cityscape before him. In celebration of their victory, Metal Meister decided to treat him to a night on the town. They had already filled both of their bellies with steak, and were now walking blissfully through the bustling streets. Occasionally, they would pass a patrolling hero who would give Metal Meister a wave before returning to their duties. "You're quite the popular guy, aren't you?" Walker said as he gave his corrupt partner a pat on the back.

"Guilty is charged," the man replied as he scratched the back of his neck. "I saved them all from having to be responsible for the slums. So I'm on the good side of pretty much every hero this side of town."

"Is that so?" Allen mumbled as they made their way underneath a giant bridge. "I guess that's just the nature of the beast, huh?" As they walked, Allen noticed a few people huddled underneath one of the bridge's corners. "Must be homeless," he thought with a sigh. Considering that he spent the vast majority of his life on the fringes of society, he couldn't help but feel for the sorry sods.

"Are you worried about them?" Metal Meister asked when he noticed Walker staring at the group of unfortunates. Before the boy even had the chance to answer, Metal Meister grinned and whipped out his phone. "The kid's been put through the wringer today, and I know better than anyone that he must be feeling damn useless right about now." Failing to capture Chin-Mae alive, a villain who had taken so much from him, must've stung. However, if he still had the energy to care about those people living in the gutter, then maybe there was a chance for him to do something. "Bah," Metal Meister thought as he scratched his scalp, "I shouldn't get ahead of myself." It was easy to forget at times such as these that the boy was still barred from doing any official training outside his classes. "It's a damn shame," the corrupt hero lamented as he pinched the bridge of his nose. "With the skills he has now, he could easily be a professional hero, and a damn good one at that." Sometimes life just wasn't fair.

"Look, mommy, it's a clown!" they heard a young girl say from up above on the overpass. She was holding a tablet of sorts in her hands, and was absolutely glued to the screen. "Can we go see the hero school's clown, please?" she asked her parents.

"Well would you look at that?" Metal Meister chortled as he slapped Walker on the back. "It looks like your reputation is finally starting to improve a bit." Granted, with how much makeup Walker was wearing, his identity as U.A.'s jovial jester most likely wouldn't become common knowledge for quite a few days. He was, after all, the black sheep of the hero course.

"Yeah, I guess it is," the boy responded as he stared up at the sky. For the first time that evening, Metal Meister thought he was finally getting to see the true face of Allen Walker. "Hey, if you don't mind, can we go ahead and part ways here?" he asked. At his words, Metal Meister couldn't help but raise an eyebrow.

"Why?" he continued, "the night's still young. Don't you want to celebrate some more?" Knowing Walker, the corrupt hero was all but certain that the boy still had room in his stomach. However, his companion shook his head.

"No, sorry, I just... want to be alone for awhile." Truth be told, while Allen was touched by Metal Meister's efforts to cheer him up, he just couldn't bring himself to ignore what had transpired just a few hours earlier. Like it or not, he was at least partially responsible for the death of another living being, and that wasn't something he could simply ignore over festivities. Having nothing else to say, Metal Meister took a step back and allowed Walker to leave.

"No matter what happens, kid, I'll be here for you," even if it took years, sometime in the future, Metal Meister just knew that Allen Walker would be big. The world needed heroes, and there was nobody he thought that was more deserving of the position than the student he was staring at right now. "Either way, with Chin-Mae's demise, a chapter on your life has come to a close," he thought as he bit his lip. He didn't know why, but he had a sinking feeling that there was something horrible on the horizon. Chin-Mae was a monster, yes, but there were always more fish in the sea. "Just be careful, okay?" he continued as he said a small prayer for his adolescent companion. "Let the winds of luck be on your back, Allen Walker." And with that, the boy walked away.


Allen frowned as he watched the city toil and churn. Like the nearby oceans, the town at night never slept. It was always moving, regardless of who was dying or fighting within its borders. "Even though Chin-Mae's dead," he thought, "I can't say I've come any closer to understanding my own future." What happened to that villain was a mystery. He didn't understand why the innocence killed him, and didn't want to risk reenacting the event to find out. "It just feels like everything is spiraling out of control." Even if famous heroes like All Might and Metal Meister did their best to clean up the gutters of this society, would he really be able to have a similar impact? "After all, there's just too little I know about my own power for it to be safe." From what he'd seen, the scope of his innocence's effect on the modern human body was absolutely terrifying. All it took was a slight touch, and your average mortal would be staring down the barrel of certain death. "I wonder... if the general populace discovered my ability, what would they think?" The Crown Clown wasn't a nuclear bomb; it couldn't destroy a city in one go like the Millennium Earl could. However, in some ways, the ability to simply end a person's life on a whim was even more terrifying. When it came down to it, his innocence was something that would completely throw off the balance of power in this world. All it would take was one mistake, and like a house of cards, everything would be thrown into chaos. "In fact," he breathed out as he stared at the ocean in front of him, "I can't help but feel like something bad is about to happen." Chalk it up to his professional paranoia, but Allen couldn't help but feel antsy whenever his eyes wandered to the news recently. "The villains, I can't help but think that they're up to something," he continued as he bit his lip.

"How in the world am I going to be able to save everyone?" he asked himself as he pinched the bridge of his nose. It might've seemed strange, but in more ways than one, saving a villain was harder than doing the same for an akuma. With demons, all he needed to do was purify them with innocence, but villains were different. "In the end, when the time comes, will I be able to do the right thing?" After his actions led to yet another death, would he truly be willing to do what was necessary in order to save others? This question floated through his head without respite ever since that eventful afternoon in the graveyard, but, no matter how much he pondered, the answer alluded him. "Tell me, God, what am I supposed to do?"

Yet again, silence covered his surroundings like a warm blanket. Even though he was standing at the offset of a bustling city, for Allen Walker, it felt for a moment that there was nobody else in the world. He could've stood there, staring at the ocean, for hours on end. However, fate had other plans. "Huh," he mumbled to himself as he made his way down the sidewalk, "looks like I'm not the only one here," he continued. Standing on the precipice of a nearby pier was a person, a strange individual who was wearing a black hoodie. "He's injured," Allen whispered to himself as his gaze journeyed up and down the man's bizarre posture. It wasn't obvious at first, after all, he was covered head to toe in unassuming clothing, but thanks to his experience, he was able to tell.

"Tch, the spot where Gigantomachia hit me is starting to burn," the man groaned as he reached up and fervently scratched his neck.

"Does he have a rash or something?" Allen thought. "And who's Gigantomachia? A hero?" With the truth of these names going right over his head, Allen opted to simply walk up and say hello to a fellow observer. "It's a beautiful night, isn't it?" he started as he briskly perched himself on the opposite edge of the dock. The man, who Allen could now see had white hair, was slightly surprised by his sudden company, and immediately tensed up in a way that Allen found suspicious. "Is that a battle stance?" he pondered for a moment as the stranger immediately relaxed his posture. "Then again, in this age, maybe I shouldn't be surprised." It was the middle of the night in a bad part of town, people had to defend themselves here, after all.

"Who's that? A kid?" Shigaraki thought as his dry eyes darted over to Walker's position. While he originally believed him to be some nobody, it didn't take long for the League of Villains' leader to recognize the boy. "Wait... that's Allen Walker!" he thought as his mind jolted to full alert. "Why in the world is a student of U.A. here?!" he continued as he nervously started to scratch his neck. "Did he recognize me from a distance? Are other heroes on their way? Tch... no matter what, before they get here, I need to get rid of this boy so I can escape!" Without Walker noticing, Shigaraki immediately stretched his palm—getting ready to gain another victim to his already exhaustive list.

"You look tense, sir," Walker spoke up as he gave the villain a worried stare. For a second, Shigaraki was taken aback. After all, there was no way that this boy didn't at least recognize him. His face was constantly plastered all over the news, after all! Not to mention that he knew that Walker went to U.A., in a class under the instruction of All Might himself!

"Shit... shit... what do I do?!" the man cursed as his wild eyes darted every which way. While the two of them were technically alone, that didn't change the fact that this area was still technically open to the public. If a civilian or a hero caught him here, he'd be in a lot of trouble. "I took too much damage during my last bout," he hissed as he squeezed one of his aching arms. The last thing he needed was a big battle. "If that's the case... I'll just have to ambush him. In three seconds I'll lunge and shatter his skull!" all he needed to do was kill the boy, and that'd be that. However, before he could make that final commitment, Walker said something that took the villain off guard.

"You don't have to fight me, you know. Even if you're a criminal, I'm not going to turn you in," Allen said. Truth be told, with the chaos of the past few days, his mind was frazzled beyond belief. So, even if—somewhere in his pool of memories—he did recognize this man, he was in no mood to attempt capturing him. He wasn't dumb, after all, he could easily recognize when a tiger was about to pounce. However, at present, Allen was willing to place that feeling aside.

"What?" Shigaraki thought as he pursed his chapped lips. Something about this didn't sit right with him. Wasn't this boy a hero? Normally, he'd attack someone like him without a second thought, but this situation was strangely... different... than the times before. "You don't want to fight me?" he asked. "You do know that I'm a villain, right?" Standing alone on an ominous dock like this, far from the prying eyes of the authorities, in this part of town, didn't exactly scream normal.

"Hah," the boy chortled. "Is that right?" he continued as he stared at the ocean. "Y'know, at least as far as I'm concerned, I don't see an evildoer when I look at you. Nah, all I see right now is just a fellow purveyor of this city's most elusive sights." His words were strange, especially for someone in his position, but they weren't dishonest. He truly wasn't looking to drag him to prison, and that realization confused the League of Villain's infamous leader to no end. Suddenly, an uncountable number of thoughts raced through Shigaraki's head. Should he kill him now and escape? Or, considering that he knew that Allen Walker had no quirk, should he immobilize the boy and take him hostage?

"He'd be a valuable pawn for torturing All Might," the man whispered to himself as he continued to scratch his neck. "No," he bit his lip, "I'm too busy fighting Gigantomachia to juggle an operation like that." He wasn't strong enough to incur the wrath of the Hero Association directly with another kidnapping yet. All in all, his overall best route out of this predicament was simply ending this child's life right here and now. "All it'd take is one touch," he thought with a smile. Just a slight graze would be all he'd need. However, to the villain's shock, before he could do the deed, Walker asked a question that stopped him in his tracks.

"It's horrid... isn't it?" the boy started as he turned to look at him. "Heroes, I mean." Like blowing air into a roaring fire, Shigaraki's curiosity suddenly swelled to unimaginable levels. He didn't understand why exactly that was, but, for the moment at least, those words were surprising enough to delay the student's demise. Capitalizing on the villain's moment of hesitation, Walker moved his focus to the nearby slums and sighed. "I mean, people expect heroes to be perfect in every way, and root for them no matter what happens. However, as a result of that blind faith, so many are forced to the gutter of society. After all," he whispered as he stared at a shimmering star above, "no person deserves to be called a villain, don't you think?"

"Damn," Shigaraki cursed under his breath as he sat down and scratched his neck. He really wanted to kill this kid, but, at the same time, he was too eager to hear the boy out. It wasn't often that heroes spoke out about their own organization, especially not after a period that was recently spearheaded by a living legend like All Might. "I'd watch what you say, brat," he responded in his typical, malicious tone. "If you were talking to anyone but me, you'd have another controversy on your hands, Allen Walker." As expected, the fact that he knew the student's name flew right over the boy's head. At this point he must've grown accustomed to it—U.A. was a famous school, after all.

"Considering how ruined my reputation already is, something minor like that probably wouldn't even register in the eyes of the citizenry," Walker laughed as he waved Shigaraki off. "It wouldn't change the fact that what I say is true. Heroes, like it or not, are part of the problem. If you're a villain like you say you are, wouldn't you agree with my sentiment?"

"Something pretty major must've happened recently for you to be talking about this to a complete stranger," Shigaraki responded on impulse.

"Hmm," the boy mumbled as he rubbed his chin, "good point. This whole circumstance has got to be pretty awkward for you I bet." The man was right, he didn't know him at all, and yet he opened their meeting with such a deeply philosophical topic. Then again, maybe that was the reason why he started talking in the first place. "In the end, you can always get the most honest answers out of people you don't know." The greater the distance between two individuals, after all, the more willing they'd be to let loose and say something they'd never say to their closest friends. In that manner, Allen found this scenario oddly... freeing... in some small way.

"If that's what you're worried about, then maybe I shouldn't have opened my mouth to begin with," the villain continued as he rolled his eyes. What was the point of starting dialogue if you were just going to stop midway? "But, going off what you said previously, I agree. In my eyes, this entire system needs to be burnt to the ground. I—" Shigaraki stopped himself. Without realizing it, he was doing something that, for him, was completely out of character. "Look at me, the leader of the League of Villains, talking to some two-bit trainee about the validity of heroes. If you were here, Master, I'm certain you'd laugh." He barely traded words with his subordinates nowadays, and yet it was so easy for him to talk to this boy. No matter how hard he thought, Shigaraki couldn't discover the reason for this. Maybe it was because of the student's openness, or his unique viewpoint for a hero. Either way, Shigaraki's body simply refused to turn the kid away.

"Oh no, did I hit a landmine or something?" Walker asked him with a concerned look on his face. "You stopped talking mid-sentence." Yet again, the villain was at a loss for words. He honestly didn't know what to do in this situation, and so, with no paths open to him, Shigaraki was forced to rely on his default reaction.

"No, it's not you," he said as he tightened his hoodie and slowly wandered towards the dock's exit. "I just realized that I have somewhere to be." When the chips were down, all the man could do was run. What else could he do when he discovered a hero whose viewpoints turned his entire world upside down? "Damn," he thought. Somehow, he just knew that this wouldn't be the last time that he'd run into Allen Walker.

"Hmm," Walker pursed his lips as he gave his brief companion a wave goodbye. "Try your best to stay out of trouble, okay?" he called out as he watched the man move further away. Soon, he disappeared completely into the bustling city streets. "Well that friendship was short-lived," Walker mused to himself as he blew a strand of hair off his forehead. Now he was truly alone. "I guess now's as good a time as any to start brainstorming," the boy whispered to himself as he squeezed his left arm. Now that his thoughts were in order, he knew exactly what he had to do. "Crown Clown, it looks like you and me are going to have to have a heart to heart," he continued with a frown. Somehow, innocence led to the death of another human being, and he was going to find out why. No matter what. "So," Walker mumbled as he stealthily activated his innocence and stared at his left palm, "let's get to work."


Izuku yawned as he walked out of the classroom. The lectures dragged on that day, and the entirety of campus felt like it was moving at a crawl. The reason for this, at least as far as the hero section was concerned, was due to an event that some of them had been dreading. "I wonder when mom will show up," Izuku thought as he took out his phone and began to text. Indeed, it was the day of the parent teacher conference. Mr. Aizawa had already reserved the room they'd all be gathering in after hours, and, slowly but surely, he could see his classmates steadily funnel into the aforementioned area. Their parents had, of course, not arrived yet. But it was only a matter of time.

"Hey, Midoriya, are you heading to the conference too?" Uraraka asked him from the other end of the hallway. The boy nodded. At this point, all of them just wanted to get this thing out of the way.

"I'm losing time for training thanks to this," he thought as he scratched the back of his neck. Recently, he'd been working on strengthening his legs, and he felt that he was at the cusp of a major breakthrough. "Just a bit more and I might be able to come up with a new move," the boy continued with a smile. As these thoughts swirled around his head, Midoriya and Uraraka steadily made their way to their required destination. Most of this walk was spent in pleasant silence. However, that soon changed when they made it outside.

"Why the hell do I have to waste my time humoring some extras?!" they heard Bakugo yell as he and Kirishima practically lurched out of a nearby exit. When their hotheaded classmate's eyes landed upon Izuku, he frowned, clicked his tongue, and turned away.

"Hey, don't be like that, man," Kirishima said as he waved his friend's rude behavior off. Midoriya and Uraraka, who at this point were used to Bakugo's brash antics, could only shrug as they joined the two boys on a nearby sidewalk. "So when are your folks getting here?" he asked the pair of them as he shoved his hands into his pockets. Izuku shrugged, knowing his mom, it was already a matter of time.

"Mine actually just arrived," Uraraka told them as she took out her phone. "They just texted me," she said. As her parents were always busy with work, she knew that the time they spent here was precious. So she wanted to ensure that this conference passed by as quickly, and uneventfully, as possible.

"That's good to hear," Kirishima responded with a smile. "Now that I think about it, we'll probably get to meet his folks as well," he finished as Izuku and Uraraka both raised an inquisitive eyebrow. They both thought for a few moments before a pair of proverbial lights turned on in their heads.

"Oh," Izuku started as he snapped his fingers, "you're talking about Walker's family, aren't you?" he continued with a smile. Kirishima nodded, however, this blissful moment was hastily crushed by the realization that came with it. "Walker's... parents... damn," Izuku bit his lip. Truth be told, even though he was quite curious to meet some people from overseas, he wasn't sure how he'd be able to face them knowing what had transpired back here.

"Your face's getting pale, Izuku, you okay?" Kirishima asked him in a worried tone. Izuku immediately turned to tell his friend that he was okay, however, the second he did, the young hero noticed something positively shocking.

"Woah, Kirishima, you're as white as a sheet!" he yelled—practically jumping into the air.

"Yeah," the boy started as he awkwardly coughed into his hand, "I guess I am." It was painfully obvious that he was extremely nervous, and why wouldn't he be? After all, they were about to meet the family of a classmate that they'd ignored and neglected for so long. Izuku was practically sweating bullets!

"Do you think he'll say anything?" Bakugo asked in an oddly quiet tone. After all the chaos he'd reaped from his time bullying Izuku back in middle school, it appeared that the boy was trying—in his own way—to turn over a new leaf. However, even though it was clear that he was looking for some positive reinforcement, none of them had any to give. This was due to a combination of multiple factors. Most notably their own guilt and immaturity. They were all trained in combat, yes, but such a heavy, personal topic was hard for anyone to face.

"I don't know," Uraraka admitted as she let out a sigh. Truth be told, the only option available to them now was to face this situation head-on. And, as much as all of them wished for an easy way out of this cobweb, every person in their class knew what had to be done.

"Ah, there you all are!" Iida called out as he waved their little group over to the meeting room's main entrance. "Go ahead and walk right on in," he said, "Mr. Aizawa, All Might, Ms. Midnight, and Present Mic have already arrived." As their class representative claimed, their teachers and most of their classmates were already in the process of opening the conference. Some of their parents were already busy conversing with one another, and everything seemed to be going swimmingly.

"Well look who finally decided to show up!" a feminine voice rang through the air, causing Bakugo's posture to noticeably slump. In what seemed like an instant, one of the parents—who they all assumed was Bakugo's mother based on her hair—rushed on over and pinched her son's cheek.

"Ow!" the boy yelled as proverbial smoke spewed out of his ears. "What the hell, old bag, you wanna die?!" he screeched as the woman turned to the rest of them.

"Hello, you guys," she said as she gave them all a small greeting. "If we haven't met, I'm Mitsuki Bakugo, the one responsible for this little demon," she continued as she forcefully turned their classmate around to face her. "Speaking of which, Katsuki, why haven't you called us yet?! Me and your father do care about you, you know?! You should give us an update on your studies every once in awhile!"

"They definitely seem like family," Uraraka, Midoriya, and Kirishima all thought with a small smile as their own parents made their way over to them. It didn't take long before they were all swept up by the crowd.

"Oh, Izuku, there you are!" Midoriya's mom, Inko, called out as she enveloped her son in a loving embrace. After returning the gesture in full, the two had a small conversation to catch-up on current events before making their way over to the teachers. "All Might, it's been quite some time," she greeted the retired hero with a smile, "I hope everything's been going okay," she finished.

"Hah, it's been going alright, Mrs. Midoriya," All Might said as he politely shook the woman's hand. "I'm sure you'll be glad to know that your son's studies have been going splendidly—for the most part."

"That sounds about right, my little Izuku has always been a hard worker!" Inko said as she patted her son's shoulder. It was still somewhat hard for her to even fathom that a member of her family was being taught by his idol. In more ways than one, it was still a positively surreal situation for her. "He's a kind boy, y'know, so I'm certain he's getting along well with all of his classmates, right?"

"Damn," Midoriya bit his lip as he balled one of his hands up into a fist, "there it is, mom, you just stepped on a landmine," he thought. Since this was a parent teacher conference, that question was bound to come up sooner or later, and—if his classmate's sullen faces were anything to go by—it seemed that most of them were already in the process of answering it.

"Well he's Midoriya," All Might laughed as he gave Inko a thumbs-up. "He's a bright lad, so I'm certain that he's doing fine!"

"That's good to hear," Inko responded as she let out a sigh of relief. "After I heard that one of his classmates killed a man, I thought he'd get depressed, but I guess he's grown out of little fits like that." At the woman's words, All Might and Mr. Aizawa both frowned.

"You all... know about that?" they asked. Of course, Inko nodded and motioned to the rest of the parents that were at the conference.

"It was all over the news," she said. "I know that some might not care for their children to share a classroom with someone like that, but I simply can't bring myself to agree with them. I thought that the boy was put in an awful position, and he did what was necessary to save who he could. Tell me, what was his name again?" she asked as she turned to Izuku. However, before he could answer his mother, another person spoke up and cut him off.

"Allen Walker," a familiar voice said, "he's the hero course's only student who doesn't have a quirk," they finished. Immediately, Izuku, and the rest of his classmates, turned to figure out the owner of that tone. And what they found shocked them to no end.

"Metal Meister?!" Mineta called out as he took a step back. "What is a famous hero like you doing here? You're not a teacher." Indeed, an individual who they were all quite familiar with had just arrived, and—judging by the scowl on his face—he didn't appear to be in the best of spirits.

"I'm not here because I want to, brat," the man hissed as he walked up to All Might and Mr. Aizawa. "I'm here because these two asked me." Even though he had his own agency that required his attention, as a hero, he couldn't simply ignore a request from All Might himself. Especially not in this situation.

"Took you long enough," Aizawa said as he pointed to one of the nearby desks. "You can go ahead and take a seat over there, when Mr. Walker arrives, we'll go ahead and begin the meeting in earnest." Truth be told, he and All Might had invited the man as he was one of the individuals who'd originally recommended the boy for the hero course. As the hidden purpose of this little get together was to dissuade any doubts about Walker's attendance, they believed that his presence would be a comforting—and reassuring—one. However, his expression and general mood was a bit too... extreme... for their tastes. "Did he just get back from a mission or something?" Aizawa thought as he narrowed his eyes. It might've just been his imagination, but he could've sworn that the hero was glaring at some of the students.

"Hmm," All Might pondered as he, too, looked at Metal Meister. "Something doesn't feel right here," he continued. However, with no leads to work with, he could only assume that the man's sour preposition was simply due to a horrid morning. After departing from this little train of thought, All Might turned his focus to a nearby window and grinned when he saw Walker making his way into campus. Soon, they'd all be able to put this depressing topic behind them for good. And, right on time, he heard a soft ding coming from his phone.

"Was that your email? Did you get the list?" Aizawa whispered as he greeted some of the other parents, All Might nodded. Typically, for gatherings such as these, the school would provide the faculty with a document containing the names and phone numbers of the students' guardians—just in case something went wrong. Normally, these would be sent without notice a few days before the conference, however, this time it was running late.

"I wonder what caused the delay?" All Might thought as he opened the email. "What?" he thought as his gaze wandered to the heading at the top of the document. In big red letters, it said, "Official notice: some necessary information not available." It was a strange warning that he'd never seen before. Sadly, before he could double-check the error with Mr. Aizawa to find out what was going on, the student of the hour walked into the building.

"Walker just arrived," Ms. Midnight said as she took a seat next to him and Aizawa. "He should be here any second now," she finished with a smile, but, for some reason, All Might couldn't return that gesture. For some reason, he felt that something was wrong, and he had a hunch that Walker was somehow the cause.

"Damn," he cursed as he bit his lip, "just what is happening now?"


Author's Note

Well here we are at the end of another chapter. Sorry it took so long, with BNHA's manga currently going off the rails, I was busy reworking and tweaking the outline for the rest of this part of the story. Obviously, since everything that happens is still well off in canon, you don't have to worry about it that much. But, if I ever want to make a sequel to this, I thought it'd be worth putting the extra time in. Anyways, that's all for me, thanks for reading and I'll see you guys in the next chapter of ATOTE.

P.S. I plan on putting my other crossover back onto the main focus for a good while, so updates for this one will probably take a bit longer while I work to get that other crossover to a satisfactory point. We'll see what happens, hopefully, if school doesn't rail me too hard, I can start pumping out updates in my usual monthly fashion.

Chapter Eighteen: The Most Valuable Things